Ryan Howard, Peyton Manning Among Names Linked to PEDs in Al-Jazeera Report

Could the 2008 Phillies World Series title be tainted?

According to an undercover report filed by Al-Jazeera, Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard is among several high-profile athletes linked to performance enhancing drugs, including Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.

"The allegation that I would do something like that is complete garbage and is totally made up," Manning told ESPN NFL insider Chris Mortensen on Saturday night. "It never happened. Never. I really can't believe somebody would put something like this on the air. Whoever said this is making stuff up."

The story is still developing and there will be more to follow as the Al-Jazeera report airs tonight, but some details have emerged from the Huffington Post, including the names of Howard, Manning,  Ryan Zimmerman and Taylor Teagarden.

The PED claims come from Collins’ undercover conversations with a former pharmacy intern named Charlie Sly, who says that he sold both Howard and Zimmerman a hormone supplement known as Delta-2.  The drug is designated to evade drug tests and included on Major League Baseball’s list of banned substances.

The Phillies issue the following statement in response to tonight’s airing of Al Jazeera’s report titled “The Dark Side”:

“Ryan Howard has vigorously denied the allegations contained in tonight’s airing of Al Jazeera’s report titled ‘The Dark Side.’  Ryan has spent his whole career with the Phillies and, during that entire time, has been an extremely well respected member of our team and an outstanding contributor to our community.  We will fully cooperate with any investigation conducted by Major League Baseball and will refer all further questions to them concerning the Al Jazeera report.”

Here is the video: